of architectural form. But, on the other hand, Messrs. Carrère and Hastings have, as in so many other cases, made their compromise successful. Faithful as they have been to the fundamental requirement of adapting the building to its purpose as a library, they have also succeeded in making it look well; and they have succeeded in making it look well partly because the design is appropriate to its function as a building in which books are stored, read and distributed. A merely monumental library always appears somewhat forbidding and remote. The Library looks attractive, and so far as a large building can, even intimate....

TERRACE IN FRONT OF LIBRARY
Looking South

By Edward C. Potter

"The popularity of the Library has, consequently, been well earned. The public has reason to like it, because it offers them a smiling countenance; and the welcome it gives is merely the outward and visible sign of an inward grace. When people enter they will find a building which has been ingeniously and carefully adapted to their use. Professional architects like it, because they recognize the skill, the good taste and the abundant resources of which the building, as a whole, is the result; and while many of them doubtless cherish a secret thought that they would have done it better, they are obliged to recognize that in order to have done it better they would have been obliged to exhibit a high degree of architectural intelligence. In the realism of its plan and in the mixture of dignity and distinction in the design, The New York Public Library is typical of that which is best in the contemporary American architectural movement; and New York is fortunate, indeed, that such a statement can be made of the most important public building erected in the city during several generations."

TERRACE LOOKING NORTH

ROMANCE By Paul Bartlett

Sculpture. Of the sculptural designs, the two lions on either side of the main approach are by E. C. Potter. They have been subjected to much criticism, mainly of a humorous nature, and in the daily press. This adverse comment has not been endorsed by critics of art and architecture. Mr. Potter was chosen for this work by Augustus St. Gaudens, and again, after Mr. St. Gaudens' death, by Mr. D. C. French, also an eminent sculptor. Any layman can satisfy himself, by a brief observation of the building as a whole, that the architectural balance of the structure demands figures of heroic size to flank the main approach. With that requirement in view, the designer of such figures has but a limited choice of subject, since there are few living creatures whose forms possess dignity without being cumbrous. The sculptor in this instance has followed well-established precedents in designing the lions according to the canons of decorative art. They are as realistic as would be suitable for figures of this size, and in this position.

The groups in the pediments are by George Gray Barnard; the one in the northern pediment represents History, and the one in the southern, Art.

The figures above the fountains on either side of the main entrance are by Frederick MacMonnies; the man seated on the Sphinx, on the northern side of the entrance represents Truth. On the southern side, the figure of the woman seated on Pegasus represents Beauty. Above the figure of Truth is this inscription from the Apocrypha (1 Esdras, chapter 3):

BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS
TRUTH
BEARETH AWAY
THE VICTORY

The inscription above the figure of Beauty is:

BEAUTY
OLD YET EVER NEW
ETERNAL VOICE
AND INWARD WORD

This is from the twenty-first stanza of Whittier's poem, "The Shadow and the Light."

The six figures above the main entrance are by Paul Bartlett; naming them from north to south they are: History, Drama, Poetry, Religion, Romance, and Philosophy. Above the entrance are inscriptions concerning three of the component parts of The New York Public Library. They are as follows:

PHILOSOPHY By Paul Bartlett

THE LENOX LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY
JAMES LENOX
DEDICATED TO HISTORY
LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS
MDCCCLXX

THE ASTOR LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY
JOHN JACOB ASTOR
FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE
MDCCCXLVIII

THE TILDEN TRUST
FOUNDED BY
SAMUEL JONES TILDEN
TO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF
SCIENCE AND POPULAR EDUCATION
MDCCCLXXXVI

Beneath these is this inscription:

MDCCCXCV  THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY  MDCCCCII

Of the dates in this inscription, the first, 1895, is that of the incorporation of The New York Public Library; the second, 1902, is that of the laying of the cornerstone.

The statue of William Cullen Bryant, behind the Library, is by Herbert Adams.

The rear of the building should be viewed from Bryant Park. The long windows are to light the bookstack. Some critics have commended the rear of the building very highly. Mr. A. C. David, in the article previously quoted, says:

A RAINY DAY—FIFTH AVENUE
From an Etching by Charles B. King

The large apartment referred to in this quotation is the Main Reading Room of the Library, which is described farther on in this Handbook.

FIRST FLOOR

TRUTH
By Frederick MacMonnies